P. B. Webb—Things which may Help



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Delamere’s Giant Whydah ( Dioptroplura progne delamerei).

Black-headed Waxbill ( Estrilda atricapilla kandti).


Purple Grenadier Waxbill ( Granatina ianthogaster roosvelti).


Mr. Webb also kindly brought home specimens of the following

three species which were presented to the Zoological Society by

Mr. F. G. Moreau, and captured in the XJsambara Mountains, North-east

Tanganyika :—


Crimson-winged Finch ( Cryptospiza reichenowi ocularis).


Olive Barbet ( Buccanodon olivaceus)-.


Lesser St. Helena Waxbill (. Estrilda astrild minor).


D. S-S.



THINGS WHICH MAY HELP


By P. B. Webb


There is the problem of keeping the grass in aviaries short. This

can be done, if the flight is a big one, with a lawn mower, or with

clippers in a small one. The last method is slow and one is likely to

have blisters when it is all clipped. The former is frightening

to the birds, especially if they have nests in the flights.


During the last two years I have employed guinea-pigs, to whom

it is all in the day’s work. It is extraordinary how soon and efficiently

they get over the ground. They are much more suitable than rabbits

would be as they do not burrow, and are more easily prevented from

destroying the plants and bushes which are growing in the aviary.

This is done with strips of netting round the base of the plants. The

animals can be moved from one division to another in their box without

disturbing the birds. There are those who will not wish to run the risk

of souring the ground with them ; I have found no ill-effect up to the

present.


In Woolworth’s one can buy vases made of sheet-iron (Fig. 1)

painted dark green, conical in shape; apex down with a large nail to

push into the ground—they are designed, I think, to keep cut flowers

fresh on graves. These will be found to be just the thing in which to



